


A Future Lined in Gold

by predilection



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Happy Ending, M/M, Magic Revealed, Merlin's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Soulmate-Identifying Marks, very late to this party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 05:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20810204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: Gwaine's soulmate has magic. He knows this because his soulmark glows.This wasn't as much of a problem until he started spending more time in Camelot where magic is banned, and where even someone catching sight of his soulmark could have him beheaded.(A Merlin/Gwaine soulmate AU.)





	A Future Lined in Gold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grumpycakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumpycakes/gifts).

> This was inspired by [this fanart](https://grumpycakes.tumblr.com/post/172432712732/now-that-the-challenge-was-posted-heres-the) by grumpycats, which reminded me of my love for this pairing.
> 
> Warnings: brief (temporary) magical paralysis and references to the slavers from the episode "The Coming of Arthur".

Gwaine's soulmark is dark blue and rests on his right hip just below his waistline. It's shaped like a crescent moon, and it's small. The entire thing is about the size of a cork from a bottle of mead.

What makes his soulmark special is that it's outlined in a thin line of gold that glows. The faint light it gives off is a sign that whoever has his matching mark has magic.

It's unfortunately also the kind of mark that's memorable, and the last thing Gwaine wants in his travels is to bring too much attention to himself, so he keeps it hidden. He's not scared of it though. He has no interest in traveling to Camelot and he grew up in Caerleon where magic was neither feared nor banned. 

Gwaine yearns to find his soulmate, but he doesn't know where to start. He hopes that he's already on the right path -- that in traveling from town to town, he'll eventually find the person he's fated for.

*

He meets Merlin in a tavern when Merlin and another man stand up for the serving lady against a group of bandits. When a brawl breaks out, Gwaine does what he always does and takes the side of the people fighting for those weaker than them. He ends up stabbed in the arm for his efforts, and when he wakes up, he learns that he's in the royal palace in Camelot and that he inadvertently saved Camelot's prince.

Camelot's royal palace, let alone Camelot itself, is the last place he wants to be, but he makes the most of it. It helps that Merlin is kind, charming, and cute, and that Gwaine likes the way he looks when he smiles. He also doesn't mind it when Merlin asks him for help.

What he doesn't like is being accused of attacking knights, having his explanations ignored, and ending up in chains. The banishment isn't that big of a price to pay given that it's _Camelot_, but when Merlin asks him for help again, he has no problem defying the king and he ends up saving the prince for a second time.

Afterwards, Merlin sees him to the border. Before they part, he gives Gwaine a waterskin, food rations, and pulls him into a hug. Gwaine feels something then, something he hasn't felt in a long time. It's a sense of rightness, like everything is as it should be, but he figures it's because he did the right thing, and that for once in his life, there's someone who understands and appreciates that.

*

It's unexpected when, months later, Merlin walks into a tavern in Mercia. It's even more unexpected when he finds out that Merlin is there looking for him. After being alone for so long, it does something to him when Merlin spots him in the crowd and a grin splits his face.

Merlin asks him for a favor: to save Arthur. This is the third time he's been tasked with saving the prince, and he says yes not only because he's beginning to see what Merlin does in Arthur, but because it's Merlin who asked.

As they travel toward the Perilous Lands, their conversation flows easily. He learns that Merlin is from Ealdor as Merlin talks about his mother and his childhood friend, and Gwaine tells Merlin stories and jokes, and of the places he's visited since he left Camelot. 

It's in the Perilous Lands, when he and Merlin make camp for the night, that Merlin asks him, "How do you feel about magic?"

The question is not out of place. They're in a land of magic, and Gwaine's hand travels to hilt of his sword, remembering way Keeper of Bridge effortlessly turned it into a flower just hours before.

"Depends on the magic," Gwaine tells him.

"What do you mean?"

"The magic in this place... it doesn't make me comfortable, but magic itself it isn't so bad." Merlin stares out at the wasteland surrounding them and frowns like he isn't so sure, so Gwaine adds, "You may have trouble believing that after spending so much time in Camelot, but magic is not inherently bad."

Merlin looks back at Gwaine, his eyes searching his face for something. "You really believe that," he says after a moment, his voice tinged with disbelief. 

Gwaine thinks of the mark on his skin -- one that links him to someone with magic, someone who can't be evil. "I do."

*

Later, as they save the prince and help him complete his quest, Gwaine takes note, not for the first time, of the way Merlin goes out of his way to care for the prince, above and beyond his duties as a servant. He also notes the way Arthur ignores Merlin and speaks down to him, even though they clearly share a genuine comradery.

Merlin spends all his time caring for Arthur, and it makes Gwaine wonder who takes the time to care for him.

*

The first thing slavers do to new captures is find and reveal their marks. It's not only to humiliate and dehumanize their prey, it's to find people with rare marks as they fetch higher prices.

Gwaine fights against the men who hold him still as a slaver pulls down his trousers and his mark is revealed. They revel in what they find, but they throw him back in the pen with the other prisoners, and Gwaine bides his time looking for ways to escape. He wants nothing more than to shut the slavers down, and free everyone else trapped here with him.

He's horrified when Merlin and Arthur are brought in, and it's only a small comfort that the slavers have no idea who they are. They strip them to bare their marks, there in front of everyone. Arthur's is a deep red on the left side of his chest, and Merlin's is a purple mark on the inside of his of his left wrist. They're nothing out of the ordinary, so they're ignored.

Later that night, the guards pull Gwaine away. Merlin protests and Gwaine watches helplessly as he's taken too. Thankfully, they want nothing from Merlin, but it means that Merlin is there when one of the slavers exposes Gwaine's mark to a potential buyer. The faint glow is obvious in the dim light, and Gwaine watches as Merlin's eyes go wide.

They don't get to talk about it until two nights later, after they've freed everyone including themselves, had the slavers taken into custody, and burned their operation to the ground. "Tell no one," Gwaine says as he and Merlin sit together by the fire, Arthur snoring soundly ten paces from them. 

"Of course," Merlin replies quietly, and then asks, "Is your mark why you're okay with magic?"

Gwaine snorts. "I'm from Caerleon. Magic is of little concern there."

"Oh," Merlin says, surprised, and stares at him.

"What?" Gwaine asks. "You're not going to tell Arthur so he can behead me, are you?"

"Arthur wouldn't--" Merlin starts. "That's not-- it's just. Your soulmate has magic. I've never met anyone with that kind of mark before." He continues to watch Gwaine, but now Gwaine realizes that there's wonder in Merlin's gaze. "Would you be okay being with... someone like that?" 

"Someone with magic, you mean? Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's not that it's bad," Merlin stutters. "I mean--"

Gwaine rolls his eyes. "They're my soulmate, Merlin. Of course I'll care about them. Magic or no magic, it makes little difference to me."

Merlin closes his mouth and falls silent, and when he speaks again, it's not about magic or soulmarks, but about the happenings in Camelot.

*

Gwaine isn't surprised, a month later, when Merlin shows up out of the blue and asks him to help Arthur again. He wonders if Merlin understands that it's Merlin he's following -- that it's Merlin's who keeps him coming back, not Arthur.

It's surreal when in the midst of saving Camelot from immortal soldiers and a hostile takeover, Arthur names his a knight. After what happened to his parents, he never thought he would go anywhere near nobility again, let alone be granted a title by a prince he's saved the life of a half dozen times. It's not Arthur he's here for though, so as Arthur's sword rests heavily on his shoulder as he swears his loyalty to Camelot, he looks over at Merlin and meet his eyes.

*

Living at the palace is strange at first, so in his free moments, he heads to Gaius' chambers in search of Merlin. Merlin doesn't seem to mind his company, even though he's kept constantly busy with work from both Arthur and Gaius. He especially doesn't mind Gwaine's company when Gwaine offers to help.

Merlin has him crushing herbs with a mortar and pestle as Merlin does the same to another batch of herbs across the table for him. The work is nothing out of the ordinary, but Merlin catches Gwaine's attention when he stops suddenly to rub his thumb over his wrist like he's in pain. In the process, he pulls down his sleeve, and Gwaine sees the pad of his thumb slide over his soulmark.

"Does it hurt?" Gwaine asks.

Merlin shakes his head. "It's my wrist. Not my mark."

"Still. You never talk about your mark," Gwaine points out. "Do you think you'll find your soulmate soon?" 

Merlin frowns, and instead of answering, asks him, "Do you? I mean, do you think you'll find your soulmate soon?"

"Me?" Gwaine laughs. "You've seen my mark, Merlin. I gave up on finding them when I became a knight of Camelot."

Merlin swallows, and he sounds like he's choosing words carefully when he says, "One day, Arthur will end the ban on magic."

Gwaine accepts Merlin's faith in Arthur, but that's hardly the point. "I doubt I'm going to find my soulmate in Camelot." 

Merlin picks up his pestle again, and resumes crushing his herbs into paste. "Maybe they're here but hiding. Anyone with a connection to magic would hide their soulmark here."

Gwaine shrugs. "Why hide if you could just live someplace where you'd be free of persecution?"

Merlin falters, his hands losing their rhythm for a moment. "Are you okay staying here? I mean. Well, you're hiding a connection to magic and I know you didn't always want to be a knight."

Gwaine's hands still on his own pestle as he considers Merlin's words, but it's an easy question to answer. He leans across the table so he can place a hand on Merlin's shoulder, and it's only after Merlin looks up at him, startled, that Gwaine tells him, "I stay in Camelot to serve someone important. Someone with a good heart."

Merlin blinks at him. "Arthur will be a good king," he promises.

Gwaine smiles and holds Merlin's gaze for a moment before he says, "I'm not here for him."

Merlin's brows furrow in shock and disbelief, and it's long minutes later, long after Gwaine's retreated to his side of the table and his task that Merlin asks quietly, "Why? I'm just a servant."

"You're not 'just' anything, Merlin." 

"But--"

"Merlin," Gwaine says, cutting him off. "By my count, I've saved Arthur's life six times now. Each and every one of those times, you were the one who enabled me to do it and none of those times did you take any credit for your part in it."

Merlin opens his mouth like he's about to protest, so Gwaine adds, "You're a good man and a good friend. Arthur's lucky to have you. _I'm_ lucky to have you." 

Gwaine goes back to crushing herbs, but when he glances up at Merlin, Merlin hastily looks down at his mortar. Still, Gwaine sees the way his eyes have gone glassy and notices the small, lopsided smile curling at his lips.

*

After Gwaine's knighted, it takes three months for anyone to notice that they haven't seen his soulmark.

There's an unfortunate protocol in Camelot that Gwaine had hoped to avoid. All knights are required to bear their marks before a member of the royal family as proof of their trustworthiness. In reality, this was a way Uther screened his men for magic or any connection to it. Perhaps because Gwaine had been knighted in haste, Arthur hadn't asked to see his mark, and Gwaine, understandably, had never offered to show him afterwards.

Gwaine's discovered when they're on a patrol of the border. It's him, Arthur, Merlin, Percival and five border guards. They've stopped by the river for the night, and while Gwaine bathes with a cloth by the edge of the water, a guard asks Gwaine why he's wearing trousers and why he doesn't just go in for a dip. The guard then wonders aloud if Gwaine's hiding his mark.

"Maybe it's in an awkward place," another guard says, causing the rest of the guards to laugh and cause quite a bit of a commotion.

"It's none of anyone's business," Gwaine answers, smiling cheekily to sooth the harshness of his words. Marks are deeply personal. It's not suspicious that he covers his, especially since his is below the belt.

But then, from behind them, Arthur says, "Come to think of it, Sir Gwaine, I haven't seen your mark. Come over here and show it to me."

Gwaine's heart starts beating loudly in his ears. Though he would rather face an enemy army right then, he walks over to Arthur casually, like nothing is amiss. "You really want me to drop my trousers here?" he asks when he's in front of Arthur.

"No, of course not," Arthur says quickly and ushers Gwaine into his tent.

Percival is inside, as is Merlin who seems to be in the process of preparing Arthur's bedding.

"What's going on?" Merlin asks.

Gwaine catches his eye. "Arthur wants to see my soulmark. It seems he doesn't trust me."

He sees the worry cross Merlin's face at the same time Percival stands up straighter. Arthur crosses his arms over his chest and huffs, put on. "It's protocol."

"It's protocol to have your knights strip before you?" Gwaine asks, and wonders if this will be it -- if he will be kicked out of Camelot again, this time when he actually wants to stay -- all for a mark he has no control of.

Oblivious to his distress, Arthur says, "Oh, come now. It's not that big a deal. Just show it to me."

"Perhaps some other time."

Arthur makes a grab for him, quick and playful like for Arthur this whole thing is a silly little game, and Gwaine catches Arthur's wrist at the same time he darts backwards out of his reach.

"No, thank you, sire," he says, but then Arthur is reaching for him again and calling for Percival, and as Gwaine makes a run for it, Percival grabs him by the shoulders and hauls him back. He tries to break free of Percival's hold, and as he's about to resort to a strike that will cause his friend actual pain, Merlin shouts his name and he freezes. 

It's only a moment's distraction, but it's enough time for Arthur to get a hold of his waistband and tug his trousers down.

Gwaine closes his eyes, hating this and waiting for all hell to break loose.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Arthur says instead, and when Gwaine opens his eyes, Arthur's staring down at Gwaine's bare hip like the mark there isn't anything special.

Percival lets him go and it's as Gwaine bends down to right his trousers that he gets a look at his mark.

His mark, which has always been lined in gold, is just blue. It's no longer glowing. 

Gwaine blinks down at it in shock, and a chill runs down his spine as he wonders what this change means. Before he can think about it too hard, Merlin crashes into the space between him and Arthur and puts his back to Gwaine.

"That's enough, Arthur. What if it has been faded or something? And you didn't have to expose him like that!"

Arthur rears back slightly. "We were only joking, Merlin."

Gwaine secures his trousers and then puts a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "It's alright," he tells him softly, even though he can't stop thinking about his altered mark. He nods at Arthur over Merlin's shoulder before leaves, lifting the flap of the tent and taking a deep breath of the evening air.

He avoids the guards and heads instead towards the nearby treeline. Once he's sure no one else is in view, he pulls down his waistband to get a better look at his mark, but to his shock and relief, it's lined with gold again.

*

Later, Gwaine offers to patrol the forest before they settle in for the night, and Merlin catches up to him before he finishes. The two of them sit together on a boulder by a small spring as the last of the day's sunlight casts a grey tone on everything around them. It's then that Gwaine asks Merlin if he knows what could've caused the change in his mark.

Merlin fidgets, clearly uncomfortable. "Magic, probably."

"You mean someone cast a spell to change it?" 

"Someone, yes," Merlin says vaguely, but Gwaine thinks he understands. 

"You think my soulmate did this?"

Merlin shrugs. "It would make sense, wouldn't it? They'd want to protect you."

Gwaine considers this. "You think they're nearby then?"

Merlin shrugs again, but he looks up at Gwaine, determination clear in his eyes and he rolls his shoulders back like he's gearing up to something. He pulls back his sleeve revealing his soulmark. "Gwaine, I want to talk to you about--" 

"There you are!" Percival shouts from a distance, causing them both to jump and Gwaine to curse.

"What is it?" Gwaine yells back at him.

"Arthur's looking for you both!"

Gwaine sighs, and when he turns back to Merlin, Merlin's standing and he's pulled his shirt back down over his wrist.

*

Merlin gets sick two weeks later. His skin is pale and blotchy, and he's running a fever. When he starts coughing, Arthur takes pity on him and gives him the day off.

Gwaine skips out on his afternoon training to visit him. When he comes into Merlin's small chamber, Merlin's sitting up in bed, back to the wall, looking absolutely miserable. Gaius is at his bedside getting him to drink something that somehow smells strongly of both honey and rot. Merlin coughs as he swallows it down, grimacing.

"It will help you," Gaius promises. "Even if the taste leaves something to be desired." He pulls the covers up over Merlin's shoulders and Gwaine takes note of the gesture. It's one of the few times he's witnessed someone take care of Merlin rather than it be the other way around. 

Gaius nods to Gwaine on his way out the door, and Gwaine moves to the chair Gaius left at Merlin's bedside. Merlin's hair is sticking to his forehead with sweat, and before he thinks twice about it, he reaches out and brushes it back.

"I'm not that sick," Merlin protests, coughing twice. "It'll pass in a few days."

"That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be worried about you," Gwaine says.

Merlin's eyes narrow. "Aren't you supposed to be training?"

"Before I left, I told Leon I was going to relieve myself."

"And he believed you?"

"Probably not," Gwaine agrees and smiles.

Merlin smiles back at him, making this visit entirely worth it.

Then Merlin's smile drops. "Gwaine, when I'm better, there's something I..."

Merlin trails off and Gwaine waits.

"There's something I want to tell you," Merlin finally says, his voice almost a whisper now.

"Alright," Gwaine says, trying to lightening the mood. "So you better rest then." 

Something in Merlin seems to relax at his words. He settles under the covers, and Gwaine stays with him until his eyes fall closed and his breathing evens outs.

*

Just as Merlin begins to recover, Arthur is put under some kind of spell that keeps him from waking from a deep sleep. Gaius sends the knights out in teams to fetch the ingredients he needs for an antidote. Gwaine's paired with Merlin, and though they travel by horseback, Gwaine forces them to take breaks and rest for Merlin's sake.

"I'm fine. We need to save Arthur," Merlin protests. Though he's better that he was, he's still pale and exhausted, and his cough still lingers. 

"You're not going to save him very well by falling off your horse."

Merlin frowns at him, but also lets Gwaine stand watch while he naps and drinks from the waterskins Gwaine gives him without any other complaint.

"All we have left is the petals of the madora flower," Merlin explains after they gather all the other ingredients on their list. "It's only found in the Caves of Karthureth."

"Alright," Gwaine says, turning his horse in the direction of the hills.

"They say the caves are guarded by magic," Merlin warns.

"Then we'll be careful," Gwaine says easily.

"It's not a joke."

"Magic rarely is," Gwaine agrees.

Merlin sighs and doesn't say anything else about the caves or magic until they've reached the hillside and the caves themselves come into view before them. Even without Merlin's warning, Gwaine would know they were magic. A faint light blue light emanates from deep inside them making the entire area glow eerily.

The large pink flowers Merlin described are easily visible inside the cave from where they dismount their horses, and Merlin leads the way towards them, Gwaine two paces behind him. Merlin steps into the cave first, but the moment his feet land inside it, he freezes, his entire body tensing.

Gwaine stops himself at the last moment from crashing into his back and immediately unsheathes his sword, his senses on high alert. "Merlin?" Merlin remains still, and Gwaine's pulse starts racing when he realizes that it's because he can't move. 

_Remove your illusions_, a voice says suddenly, and Gwaine jumps, his sword held up and ready to attack. His feet inadvertently breach the opening of the cave, but he doesn't freeze like Merlin did.

"Who's there?"

_Remove your illusions_, the voice says again, and this time Gwaine understands why he can't tell what direction it's coming from. It's like the voice is being projected directly into his head. It's clearly some kind of spell.

"We come without any illusions," Gwaine says, and he slowly circles around Merlin, taking up a defensive position between Merlin and whatever is inside the cave.

_Liar_, the voice hisses. _Your illusions aren't welcome here._

Merlin's eyes and mouth are stuck wide open, and he's unmoving except for the rise and fall of his chest.

"Merlin?" Gwaine asks again. "Can you hear me?"

The voice screams again, louder now, _Liar!_

In the span between one breath and another, Merlin suddenly comes unstuck and lets out an agonized shout, his legs giving out from under him. Gwaine drops his sword so he can catch him before he hits the ground, and it's only when he has Merlin lying on his back, looking him over for injuries, that he notices the way Merlin's clinging onto his left wrist over his soulmark, putting pressure on it as if it's the source of his pain. 

_Remove your illusions!_ the voice demands, more forcefully than before and Merlin shouts again. His body jolts. In the process, his hand comes away from his wrist and Gwaine is afforded a clear sight of Merlin's mark, glowing with the same eerie blue light as the cave.

"What are you doing to him?" Gwaine asks, panicked.

_Remove them!_ The voice shouts, louder still, and before his eyes, the blue light on Merlin's skin burns inwards like fire catching on parchment. Merlin screams and then abruptly falls still, and as he relaxes in Gwaine's hold, the blue light fades revealing a blank wrist. Merlin's mark is gone.

Merlin curls in on himself on his side, trembling and cradling his wrist, and Gwaine is on his feet, sword back in his hand in an instant. 

Soulmarks don't disappear. As far as Gwaine knew, they couldn't. In all his travels, he can't recall even hearing of one vanishing.

"Give it back!" he shouts into the cave, terrified and furious. "What you've taken, return it!"

The voice doesn't respond, but the bright light before them fades revealing more of the flowers they're searching for growing deeper inside the cave.

"No, wait!" Gwaine yells. "Come back here and give it back!" His voice breaks and Gwaine realizes then that he's sobbing. He's Merlin's knight, his defender, and he failed to protect him. In his sorrow, he leans his head back, closes his eyes, and heaves a deep breath for strength. 

"It's alright."

Gwaine drops his chin slowly. Merlin is pushing himself up to his feet, and as he stands, Gwaine sees unshed tears in corners of his eyes.

"No, it's not," Gwaine says, pained. 

"I'm fine. Really, Gwaine." Merlin, for some reason, holds up his blank wrist and offers Gwaine a wobbly smile, like the sight of it will somehow be a comfort. 

Gwaine sheaths his sword before he steps forward and carefully takes Merlin's wrist in both his hands. He raises it at the same time he bends down, pressing his forehand to the blank skin. "I'm sorry, Merlin," he says quietly. "I'm sorry it took your mark. I'll do everything in my power to return it to you."

Merlin slides his hand from Gwaine's grip and trails his fingers down Gwaine's cheek. Gwaine can't help but notice that while Merlin's face is still pale from lingering sickness and from whatever just happened, he doesn't look upset.

"You don't have to," Merlin tells him, "because that wasn't my mark."

Gwaine blinks and Merlin raises his other hand so he's holding Gwaine's face in both his hands.

"It was a decoy. An... an illusion I used while in Camelot. The magic here just reacted badly to it."

Before Gwaine can ask what Merlin's talking about, Merlin lets Gwaine go, takes a step back, and pulls down the waistband of right side of his trousers.

There, on Merlin's hip, is a familiar crescent moon lined in glowing gold.

Gwaine stares at it, almost unseeing, and steps closer to Merlin without thinking, his fingers ghosting over the mark.

Then it hits him all at once. What Merlin is telling him. What this means.

Merlin has his matching mark. Which means Merlin has magic. 

Which means Merlin is his soulmate.

Merlin is staring at him, waiting, and Gwaine knows him well enough to see the apprehension in the way he's holding himself. It's like he's waiting for a blow, and Gwaine reaches out automatically, pulling Merlin into an embrace. He tilts his head into Merlin's hair and he can't help the giddy laugh that bubbles up out of his throat. He holds Merlin tighter. "It's you," he says, awed. "Of course it's you."

Because he's never been drawn to someone like he's been drawn to Merlin, and looking back on it, he can see how the course of his life changed the moment Merlin entered it. It all makes sense now.

Why Merlin was always in the midst of whatever needed to be done to save Arthur from the magic that threatened him. Why Merlin kept asking him about his thoughts on magic. Why Merlin would have a decoy mark, fearful of being discovered. Why Merlin didn't tell him, even though, he suspects now as he thinks back, he was trying to.

"You're not angry?" Merlin asks, quietly, from where his face is pressed against Gwaine's shoulder.

Slowly, Gwaine pulls back, only moving far enough away that he can get a good look at Merlin's face. "Of course not," he says, and because he's starting to feel like the luckiest man alive, he can't help but grin as he adds, "How could I be, when it's you?"

*

Merlin assures him that he's fine despite what happened in the cave and that the only causality was his illusion, which he recreates on his arm. It makes Gwaine a little uneasy to see it there, but he understands why Merlin wears it.

On their way back to Camelot, Merlin tells him that he was born with magic, and how he was entrusted to protect Arthur. He also tells Gwaine how much it pained him, once he saw Gwaine's mark, to keep the truth hidden from him.

When they've stopped by the side of the road to refill their waterskins by a river, Gwaine figures it out. "It was you who kept Arthur from seeing the glow of my mark."

Merlin takes a sip of water and nods. "I couldn't let anything bad happen to you because of me."

Gwaine shoots him a look. "If something bad had happened then, it wouldn't have been because of you."

Merlin frowns. "But it's because of me that your mark--"

"It's because of Camelot's ridiculous laws that I even had reason to worry and they're the same laws that forced you to hide from me."

Gwaine can feel Merlin staring at him as he finishes off the water in his waterskin and bends down to refill it. "You really don't blame me," Merlin says finally.

"No, I don't." 

He's not upset at Merlin. Not for this. Not for something that was never his fault.

And it's hard to be upset at all right now. When he decided to stay in Camelot, he was sure he was giving up on finding his match, and instead he found it in the best person he's ever known.

"How can you be so--"

"What?" Gwaine asks. "Charming? Handsome?"

Merlin laughs, and although Merlin is smiling, Gwaine can tell he's serious when he replies, "You've always believed in me, no matter what."

"You may not see it, but you're very easy to believe in, Merlin. All of us knights, we believe in you, and though Arthur doesn't always do a good job of showing it, he does too."

"But not like you. You've had faith in me from the beginning, and you didn't even know we were a match."

Gwaine considers this for a moment. "Maybe that's why we're a match."

"Maybe," Merlin says. "But that's not what I'm trying to say."

Gwaine shifts closer until their shoulders touch and then he jostles Merlin gently. "Then what are you trying to say?" 

Merlin looks over at him. "I, too, am glad it's you." 

*

They make it back to Camelot by nightfall and give Gaius the ingredients they collected. They return only moments before Percival and Elyon who bring with them the last of what Gaius requested. 

Gaius mixes the herbs quickly and efficiently, before telling him, Elyon, and Percival to ready Arthur for the treatment. When Gwaine makes to leave, Merlin grabs a hold of his tunic. 

"We'll be there in a moment," Merlin says to Elyon and Percival where they wait for Gwaine by the door.

"I'll be along," Gwaine agrees.

He's unsure why he's been asked to stay but once the door is shut behind the other knights, Merlin tells Gaius, "He knows about my magic."

Gaius looks Gwaine up and down, his eyebrows raising, and Gwaine is startled by the realization that Gaius is aware of Merlin's magic. It hits him, then, that although Gwaine knows a fair amount about Merlin, there's still so much he doesn't know. He feels an excitement build under his skin. This is a part of Merlin he gets to be privy to now -- a new side of him that he gets to uncover. 

"Alright," Gaius says, turning his attention back to the medicine. "If you're sure." He throws a pinch of something dark into the bowl and then hands it to Merlin. 

Merlin takes the bowl from him carefully, holding it with both hands. From where he's standing, Gwaine can see the liquid in the bowl is a bright green color. Merlin glances up at him and bites his lip like he's nervous, before looking back down at the bowl and saying words in a language Gwaine doesn't understand. His eyes turn golden and Gwaine is so taken by them that it takes him a moment to realize that the liquid in the bowl is now purple.

Merlin hands the bowl back to Gaius and then hesitantly looks up at Gwaine again.

"That was beautiful," Gwaine says, astounded by what he just witnessed.

Merlin's mouth drops opens in surprise, and Gwaine hates this this is a shock -- that something wonderful Merlin is doing to save his king is something he's fearful of other's seeing. Even with his unanswered questions, he knows that Merlin has to have saved Arthur with his magic many more times before this. He knows that Merlin and his magic have likely saved them all. It's what makes him say, "It's a crime that Camelot doesn't know how much you do for it."

Merlin lower his head, but Gwaine can hear his conviction when he says, "Arthur will change the laws." Merlin's full of belief and hope, and Gwaine may not always have that same faith, but he believes in Merlin's faith -- in Merlin's vision of a better world -- and he'll do everything in his power to make it happen. 

"Then we better take his majesty this potion," Gwaine says.

*

Later, after Arthur is saved and is told what happened to him, Gwaine leads an exhausted Merlin away from Arthur's chambers and towards Gaius'. Merlin is almost asleep on his feet when Gwaine helps him into bed, but when Gwaine moves to stand, Merlin grabs onto his arm and keeps him where he is.

"Merlin?" 

"I don't want to hide you," Merlin says.

"We don't have to hide everything," he points out since it's not uncommon for people who haven't met their soulmates yet to find company in each other. 

"And you're okay with that?"

Truth be told, Gwaine has no interest in hiding either, but he will, at least for now, even if he doesn't like it. "It won't be forever."

"No," Merlin agrees and it sounds like a promise.

"Get some rest," Gwaine says, but Merlin still has a hold on his arm and prevents him from standing.

"Gwaine."

"Yeah?"

Merlin reaches for him, taking Gwaine's face in his hands and pulling him down. He looks up at Gwaine, and even with his eyes half-lidded, he has a contented look on his face, something small and private and clearly meant only for Gwaine. "You're my soulmate," he says like he's still astonished and delighted by this simple truth.

Gwaine feels his mouth go dry even before Merlin kisses him, once on the cheek and then on the forehead. The soft brush of his lips feel like a blessing, and it's easy, so easy, to lift is own hand to Merlin's face and guide their lips together.

This kiss is chaste too, Gwaine well aware of Merlin's exhaustion, but Merlin smiles into it. 

Gwaine smiles back. "And you're mine," he says, and as he looks down at Merlin, he can't help but feel awed as well. Even though they have much to figure out and overcome, that they're soulmates makes it all seem less daunting. It gives him confidence that their future together will be just as bright as Merlin believes it will be.

**Author's Note:**

> (Arthur begins repealing the ban on magic less than a year later. Merlin reveals his magic to Arthur to assist in the process. Arthur doesn't take it well, but Gwaine stands by Merlin through it all -- through writing new laws, and weathering Arthur's sense of betrayal. Arthur comes around eventually, and it's then, months later, that he eyes them curiously.
> 
> "You and Merlin... you're not just lovers. You're soulmates, aren't you?" he asks Gwaine one day, joining Gwaine where he's watching from Gaius' doorway as Merlin uses his magic to heal a burn on a child's arm.
> 
> Gwaine grins at him. "Finally figured it out, did you?"
> 
> Arthur crosses his arm and sighs, but they talk about it, and Gwaine tells him how he found out Merlin was his soulmate and how they were forced to hide. Arthur doesn't say anything, but days later, he apologizes to them both and vows that to ensure no soulmates need to hide themselves in such a way again.
> 
> Merlin is thrilled. Gwaine is too, for the change is a big and important one. But he's also happy that Merlin's faith wasn't misplaced, and that they're finally, _finally_ able to be together openly not only as a sorcerer and his loyal knight, but as the soul match they are.)


End file.
